The present invention relates to a fastener in which a base, fastening portion and mounting portion for mounting the fastener on a support, such as a car body or bracket, are molded integrally, and in which a slender object such as a pipe held by the fastener can be mounted on the support.
Fasteners for pipes in which a base, fastening portion and mounting portion for mounting the fastener to a car body or bracket are molded integrally and in which the fastener mounts a pipe to a car body, are disclosed in Kokai No. 10-122433 (Patent Document 1), International Application Publication No. WO 02/097315 (Patent Document 2), and Kokai No. 11-280952 (Patent Document 3). In the fastener for pipes described in Patent Document 1, the mounting portion comprises a stud engaging portion able to engage a stud bolt fixed to a car body and a bracket engaging portion able to be inserted into a mounting hole in a bracket to mount the fastener on the bracket. This allows the fastener to be mounted either to a car body or a bracket. Patent Document 2 discloses a fastener having a structure that obstructs transmission of vibrations from a pipe to a car body and from the car body to the pipe. The fastener has, as a mounting portion, a stud engaging means able to engage a stud bolt fixed to the car body and a panel engaging means able to be inserted into a mounting hole on another panel and engaging the panel. Patent Document 3 discloses a fastener for a pipe, with elastic tabs on the bottom surface of a holding portion that are able to push up and hold a pipe properly even when the outer diameter of the pipe accommodated by the holding portion varies. The fastener has a stud engaging portion for engaging a stud extending outward from a car body, but does not have another mounting means as in the case of the fasteners in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2.
The fastener described in Patent Document 1 is equipped with a stud engaging portion and a bracket engaging portion. The bracket engaging portion consists of two hook-shaped pawls disposed opposite the base of the fastener at a particular interval. Because the two pawls are formed apart from one another, there is a chance that only one pawl will go into the mounting hole on the bracket, making the bracket mounting operation less efficient. Another problem is that the hole through which the end of the stud passes from the stud engaging portion between the two pawls may not be molded in the base portion between the pawls, and so a slide has to be added during the molding process, which increases the cost of the product. The fastener in Patent Document 2 has a stud engaging portion and a panel engaging portion. The panel engaging portion is cube-shaped, having a square profile with elastic pawls extending from two sides to engage a mounting hole in the panel. However, a slide has to be added during the molding process, which increases the cost of the product. The fastener in Patent Document 3 only has a stud engaging portion and cannot be mounted on a panel or bracket via a mounting hole.